Council of Europe Congress to observe local and provincial elections in Serbia

Strasbourg , 06.05.2008 – The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe will observe the local elections in Serbia and the assembly elections in its autonomous province of Vojvodina on Sunday 11 May. The Congress delegation will be headed by Mr Paolo Rondelli (San Marino, SOC). It will include three members of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions. As a part of the cooperation between the two institutions, the Committee of the Regions regularly participates in election observation at the local and regional level.

Prior to election day, the delegation will meet with the Mayor of Belgrade, Zoran Alimpic, the President of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, Zeljko Ozegovic, the President of the Electoral Commission Sonja Brkic, as well as candidates standing for election, the media and NGOs monitoring the election campaign.

This observation will be carried out as part of a larger Council of Europe election observation action, which also includes the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, for the parliamentary elections that take place at the same time.

A Council of Europe press conference will present its findings on 12 May at 12h00 in the Media Centre, Belgrade. This press conference will be divided into two parts. In the first part the Parliamentary Assembly will deliver its preliminary conclusions regarding the parliamentary elections, followed by a second part by the Congress delegation on the local elections and the provincial elections in Vojvodina.